Welcome to winter and the first day was a doozy.  Old Man Winter must have been waiting in the wings, well rested and waiting for his cue.  Snow and ice storms were reported across the nation, top to bottom. Hopefully this will be his only hoorah .  His first drop was 10 inches followed by 5 inches then four more, all within the following 24 hours. Many blessings to my neighbor who puts his snowblower at my service to make short work of the bulk of this.

So now it’s winter solstice, and it’s the long slow anticipation of spring as the daytime get longer and longer.  The first picture below, was taken at four o’clock.  Second picture was taken at four o’clock 24 hours.  What a difference a day makes!!!!

Another cultural icon has moved on. Actually, I should say the lady that created the persona that we all know as that notorious pinup queen the 1950’s has passed on.  Alot has been said about her charms and figure but what she really did was to stride the line between naughty and nice show the world at the time that sex and beauty could walk hand-in-hand without being smutty. That doesn’t mean she didn’t model for pictures that downright inflamed the starched collars of the day and still gets a fair number of people in an uproar even now. But you could not argue with that smile. I know that she was a role model for many dancers and burlesque artists and she will be sorely missed for the person she was. However, the icon that is Betty Page, is alive and well and living in our culture.

     The 35th Bridge Birthday has come and gone and it was a success. But then again, I can’t say as I know personally. I wasn’t out on the floor with the people drinking, dancing, and generally having a good time enjoying the evening. I was sequestered away in the kitchen, washing dishes and peeling fruit amongst the many other chores. And I was happy to be there.

   The Casa do Buraco was to prepare the meal for the event. These wonderful folks are great cooks and most generous with their skills and time. However, an undertaking of the magnitude of feeding 80 people requires some help, so we volunteered. Our small part initially involved the preparation of food stuffs, in advance of the date, and the washing of several hundred pounds of less than up to standard sanitary kitchen utensils and pans along with the generally large amount port consumption that goes along while doing all this. The actual day of,  I was in the kitchen for 13 hours along with two cooks, a couple of other poor serfs like myself and the iron handed Mistress Vibeke who was running the show.  The kitchen was noisy and warm, when the rear door didn’t get opened. The smells put you in a steady state ravenous mode. There was lots of movement, action and laughter, all which made the time go all too quick. It was a good time working.

      Looking back now, it seems that all I did was wash and re-wash and re-wash the same pots and pans and utensils over and over again. That along with lugging things around, peeling way too many apples and pears for large pan desserts and generally trying to stay out of the way of the knife wielding cooks. There were a couple of slack periods of about a half-hour where I was able to go to the mead contest or just get my feet up onto a desk. Somewhere in all this, Manuela did a wonderful dance number which left a major number of the viewers slack-jawed.    

 The Casa do Buraco did receive some well deserved recognition  (Hooray!!) and alot of food was sent home with the stuffed revelers.    

     The day ended up with a whole lot of packing and more massive washing of the dishes, sinks, countertops  and finally the floors. I got home at three minutes after midnight, which is to say three minutes later than my estimated time. The next day, we were rather wiped.  It was a worthwhile endeavor that I would be happy to do for these people again. I now truly understand that it takes a number of dedicated giving individuals to provide so that many others can have fun. I guess that’s how some people get their fun : )

Photos courtesy of the ingredient missing in the photos, Mistress Iron-Hand Vibeke Twigsplitter…….Thanks for the superior organization that made it all run smooth : )

A few months ago, I was contacted by Imagine FX magazine. Imagine FX is primarily concerned with digital art which I do but they were interested in showcasing me as someone who still played with dirt and oil on top of wood. Old school, I think it is called. Terrific, not only am I getting older but it is starting to get pointed out. Anyway, the one page expose showed up in the December 2008, issue 37 and below is an image of my day in the sun. Cheers!